Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,499
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$4,701
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,130
Rhode Island costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the bottom tenth percentile for this work in Rhode Island — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$31,200
Kept after tax
$26,499
Worth in national money
$26,130
State rank
39
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Rhode Island is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $31,200, ranking 39 of 50 states — about 12.82% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Rhode Island, this one sits low: 452 of 452 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $31,200, tax leaves $26,499, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $26,130 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $35,620, since top earners drag the number up.
- Rhode Island ranks 39 of 50 for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists, with a median of $31,200 — about 12.82% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists occupies position 452 of 452 in Rhode Island's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Rhode Island sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists — median $31,200 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $26,499 retained, $26,130 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $35,620 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,630 |
| This salary | $31,200 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Rhode Island | $26,499 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,249 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,911 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $30,267 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,311 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $31,200 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,200 and the ninetieth is $38,630 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $26,499 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $31,200. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 452 of 452.
- One number stands for prices across all of Rhode Island, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $26,130, the adjusted value of that $31,200 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 452 of 452 in the state.
- The Rhode Island median of $31,200 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,200 to $38,630. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $26,499, from $31,200, assumes a single Rhode Island filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 452 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Rhode Island, so $26,130 — the adjusted value of that $31,200 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 452 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $35,620, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,200 and the top tenth $38,630, so most people doing this work in Rhode Island sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $26,130 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Rhode Island adds its own income tax on top — which is why $26,499 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Rhode Island is $35,620. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,200 to $38,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Rhode Island rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Rhode Island's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $26,130 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $26,499 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Rhode Island income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.